Skinner’s round

Friday
Forty-three

'So what's she like now, Myra's magic child? What did she turn into?' There was a strange sadness in his tone.

Maggie Rose put down her notes, her account of her German interview completed. She looked at Skinner, through the eyes of someone who knew him well, and saw, written on his face, the depth of the old memories which the rediscovery of his dead wife's tape had stirred in him.

`She's grown into a kind of pathetic wee woman, sir. She's married to a man who obviously treats her like a skivvy, but that's not all. She's borne down by possession of that bloody curse. It took me a while to realise what it is about her. She's possibly the loneliest person I've ever met.'

`Why's that, Mags? She's got her kid, hasn't she? And she must have friends around her, living in married quarters. Are you telling me she's homesick for Longniddry!'

Rose smiled and shook her head. 'No, sir. It's not that. It's Aggie Tod's curse. I've told you how Nana Soutar reacted when she found out that Lisa had made that tape for Myra.

Possession of the tale sets you apart from others. It makes you unique. It's been handed on in that family for four hundred Years. I mean, just look at that tree. It's fantastic.' She pointed to the piece of paper on the table, in the mobile police office.

The thing has built up its own tradition within that string of descendants, and gathered its own power. They've had four centuries of believing that if they betray the witch secret they've been entrusted with, then the Devil will show up to sort them out. They've had four centuries of submission to the tale, of its being beaten into them when necessary. Within their own family, these women have been set apart, seen as different, somehow.'

Rose picked up the paper and looked at it again. `D'you know what keeps Lisa going, through the drabness of her life, and what makes her tolerate that bloody husband of hers?' Her anger boiled over. 'Honest to God, in that whole house there was nothing to show that Lisa is cared about!'

Skinner reached out and touched her hand. 'Maggie,' he said kindly. 'I know that sometimes it's hard not to get steamed up over people's problems. But that's the job. We're police officers, not marriage counsellors or social workers. You mustn't allow yourself to be deflected from the task by sympathy for others. Have compassion, but professionally, you've got to stick to what's relevant. You know that.'

`Yes sir, I do. And this is relevant. I do have a point to make. Lisa is driven on by one thing.

She's living for the day when wee Cherry is old enough to be told the story, and to take her place in the line of the Tellers. Then it won't be just her alone. There'll be two of them to share the secret, two strange women a bit different from the rest.

`Yet Lisa's still marked by her nana's warning, and until I came along, with the tape and the press cutting, there's no way that she'd have breathed the story of Aggie's curse to another living soul. I'm certain of this. Whoever sent those notes to the Scotsman and the Herald didn't hear the story from Lisa Davies.'

Alison Higgins stood up and refilled her mug with coffee from a Thermos jug on the table. 'If that's the case, what other possibilities are there? Didn't Henry Wills say that there was a nineteenth-century reference to the story?'

`Yes, he did. I'm seeing him later today. I'm going to follow that up with him. I've asked him to help me find out who Elizabeth Carr is too.'

`Come on, Inspector,' said Higgins. 'You heard what the ACC said about keeping to the point.

Is that strictly relevant?'

I don't know, ma'am, but I can't say that it isn't, and neither can you. It's bizarre and it's a bloody nuisance, but the Aggie Tod story is linked into two murder enquiries. If we run it completely to earth, we may find out who else knew of the curse. If we do, we may have found our killer.'

'Touche,' said Higgins.

`There's something else I want to do, that might not be so relevant, but it is connected to the story.'

`What's that?' asked Skinner.

I want to find out as much as I can about Lisa's Bible, sir.

It's an extraordinary thing for an ordinary person to have.'

If you can call Lisa Soutar ordinary!' said Higgins.

`Granted. But even at that… I mean we're talking about, a Bible which pre-dates the King James edition. And apart from its age, it's a remarkable work. The cover is rich beaten; leather. It's been well cared for by all its keepers, and inside there are some beautiful illustrations. I persuaded Lisa to let me take some photographs of it. I'm going to find an expert, to see if it can be identified, and to get an idea of how much ' it's worth. `She'd never given a thought to its value. Now that she has, she's decided to keep it in a bank deposit box.

Her husband doesn't know it exists, but she reckons that if he ever found it he might take it and sell it.'

She looked up at Higgins, still standing coffee mug in hood. 'I don't know,' said the Superintendent. 'I'm more interested in finding out who else could have written those notes to the press.'

Aye, Ali,' said Skinner, 'but this investigation is already so weird that we can't rule out anything. Maybe, just maybe, researching the Bible will help us to answer that very question.

OK Mags, you get on with all that, and report back to Miss Higgins on each part of the investigation.'

`Very good, sir.' She got up from the table, put her notes back in her briefcase and left the office.

Skinner and Higgins were alone. The ACC picked up the Thermos jug. Guessing by its weight that it still held coffee, he twisted its screw cap and poured himself a refill.

`You're doing a good job on this investigation, Alison,' he said. 'No one's going to fault you for lack of achievement.' `Thank you very much, sir.'

`But there is one thing. It's an essential skill of command. It's a bit like football; no, let's say sailing, since that's your sport. You can either be the sort of captain who issues every order, and who sees the crew simply as implements of her will, or you can be the type who keeps a steady hand on the tiller and lets her crew get on with their different tasks, backing their judgement all the time… even if on occasion they're wrong.

I don't succeed all the time, but I try to be the second sort of skipper. If I have a crew member who's idle or slipshod, then he'll walk the plank, but I always respect those who do their best. If someone comes to me and proposes an initiative, then I give them the same trust I expect them to place in me, and I let them run with it.'

And that's what I should have done with Maggie?'

`Yes, as second nature. It may be that at the end of the day, all she'll achieve is a free valuation of her family Bible for Lisa Davies. But that's not her objective. She wants to find out all she can about that book, and about how it might have come into the hands of a burned witch's sister, because that's what her training and her instinct tell her she should do.

`You're in command of good detective officers, Ali. And their second greatest asset, after their attention to detail, is their instinct. Never suppress it, or countermand it… unless your instinct tells you different!'

Higgins nodded. 'Thank you, sir, I appreciate the advice. I'm grateful to you.'

`Don't be, Superintendent.' He waved his right hand vaguely around him, circling the room.

'To finish my sailing analogy, I'm Admiral of the CID fleet and it's my job to see that we all make a safe landfall! One other thing. How's that coven hunt doing? Have we had word of local witches?'

Higgins smiled. 'As a matter of fact, sir, we just did. One of the PCs in the Haddington station was told by his daughter that there's some sort of group in her school. The kid said that it's older girls and boys, and that they meet every Friday in an old quarry behind the town.'

Oh aye? To do what?'

`Maybe we'll find out tonight. Andy Martin's taking some people to the quarry tonight, to see if there's anything in it.' `Could be interesting. Meantime, I've got some golf to play!'